New Fish Questions: Wrasse, Dartfish

joel.uejio

joel.uejio

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Jun 1, 2009
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Joel
Hi Folks. This past weekend I added two new fish to my 3-month-old, 40g tank -- have some questions I'm hoping I can get some help with:

Fish 1 -- Added 3 days ago -- Twin-Spot Wrasse (!!!!!!)
-- LFS told me it was a Formosa Wrasse that would stay small and be reef safe, so boo on them for LYING to me, and boo on me for listening to them.
-- Acclimated for 20 min, then released, wrasse ran and hid
-- Have not seen it for 3 days.
-- Q1: Any chance that this guy is still alive?
-- If so, will try to net out and return, since apparently they get 2' long!

Fish 2 -- Added yesterday -- Scissor Tail Goby (aka Scissor Tail Dartfish)
-- Also ran and hid, but I have seen him out, acting skittish though
-- Saw him take a mouthful of mysis, but then spit it out
-- Q2: Should I get him some friends? (I'm seeing conflicting info about them being schooling fish)

Thanks for the help -- the scissor tail is a beaut, so will try to post some pics.
 
Well, there's quite a difference between a formosa wrasse and a twin spot wrasse. I can't (no wait, I actually can) believe that they made such a mistake in telling you which one you were getting. Nonetheless, it happens, and many times hobbyists don't have a way to instantly check for the correct ID on a fish. Even if it was a formosa, it would still grow much too large for a 40g tank.

A 20 minute acclimation is pretty short... Depending on how different your tank water is from the water it came home in, it may or may not be alive. I'm leaning towards it not being alive, but unless I'm mistaken, that variety of wrasse will bury itself in the sand, so it may have buried itself and just has not come out yet. One of my yellow wrasses took a trip down the drain on one of my tanks and when I caught it to put it back in the display, it hid for 3 or 4 days before coming out again.

I would not rush to get the dartfish more dartfish friends. Since it was just added to your tank yesterday, I would give it time to adjust to your tank.
 
Thanks for the response -- I know that the wrasse does like to bury (saw him do that at the LFS) so maybe he is just down adjusting. I'll see if he pops up in the next few days. Definitely will acclimate fish longer (I did 40 minutes for the scissortail).

For that guy, giving him time along to adjust sounds good to me.

Thanks!
 
Another important part of acclimation that I think many people take for granted is keeping lights in the room and tank dimmed or off. This is especially impotant if you do the "flaot method" where the fish is just below your tank lights in a clear bag. 20 minutes is a bit on the short side. Have you tried a drip acclimation? It isn't hard at all and much better acclimation process IMO. Your wrasse could very well still be buried in the sand.
 
Normally what I do is:

Float bag in tank
Add some tank water to the bag at 10 min intervals
After 30-40 minutes net out the fish and drop in tank

Sometimes I turn off the lights, but sometimes not. From now on I can try to be more regimented about that.

I have some spare air line tubing now, so I guess I could start doing drip. I think for that you put the new fish and water in a small bucket, set up an air line tube with a knot from your tank so it drips into the bucket. Then after a stretch of time, net out and add fish to tank. Yes?
 
Just quick answers to your questions:
A1: Yes, very likely it is still alive and hiding in the sand. Still, I would return it when you can, wrong fish for your tank IMO.

A2: From my experience, they (dartfish) like to be in groups of 3 or more, so more friends would be good. Just make sure your top is sealed as they will jump out.
 
Here are some pics of the scissor -- seems to be getting more comfortable and exploring more. :)

IMG_0254.JPG

IMG_0257.JPG

IMG_0254.JPG IMG_0257.JPG
 
nice fish.
 
I always liked those scissor tails. Cool fish!

The drip method you mentioned is correct except you want to let the water double in volume from the original bag water and remove 50% from the bucket a at least once and allow it to refill after you take out the 50%. This removes waste from the water in the bag. You want about 4 drops per second.
 
Thanks for clarifying the drip process -- sounds good.

As for the fish, strange developments....After a few days of seeing the scissor out and about he disappeared again. At one point I saw his tail, but that was all. Then after 2 days of nothing, came home one day and saw the wrasse cruising around! So after no sign of him for ~5 days he popped up.

Then had two days of wrasse sightings and no scissor, making me worry, but then this morning I see scissor, but no wrasse. :screwy:

So I think this w/e I'm going to completely excavate my tank and get the wrasse out. I'll try to get some pics, though, so you folk can help me confirm the ID.

Thanks!
 
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